EMCS Playbook provides 'model' guidance

  • Published
  • By Amy Ausley
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  The Air Force Civil Engineer Center's Operations Directorate recently went live with a new playbook for Air Force energy management and control systems, or EMCS. The interactive, web-based tool provides a centralized location for EMCS news and guidance, helping installations better manage their energy use.

The objective of an EMCS is to keep building occupants comfortable while keeping energy consumption, demand and costs at a minimum.  The EMCS controls energy consuming devices such as fans, pumps, heating and cooling equipment, dampers and thermostats through a central computing system and monitors and records information from heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems throughout an Air Force base. 

"Having a standardized playbook for EMCS helps everyone use their systems more effectively," said Billy Webb, chief of the operations mechanical and electrical branch at AFCEC.

"Over the last 15 years, EMCS projects have been the favorite target of energy conservation efforts," said Tom Adams, the AFCEC mechanical engineer subject matter expert. "Unfortunately, implementing these projects has been problematic.  For instance, connections to utility meters have not been included, proprietary parts have caused unnecessary complexities and virtual local area network certification procedures were neglected."

The new playbook addresses some of these common issues with the primary goal of optimizing energy savings such as temperature set points and evening and weekend setback temperatures scheduling. The playbook also encourages bases to use a network of expertise from other bases to collaborate and provide useful information that can enhance EMCS performance. 

"The EMCS system must be able to accurately control climate conditions within Air Force prescribed set points and occupancy schedules to meet mission requirements," said Joel Hughes, an AFCEC mechanical engineer subject matter specialist.

Maintenance of the EMCS and security of the system are also covered in the playbook. Since EMCS is a type of CE industrial control system, protection of the information transferred across the system is necessary to safeguard the base.

The EMCS at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is considered to be an example of a highly efficient system and was used as a model by the playbook authors.  At Eglin, 200 buildings are connected to a software platform that controls and monitors facilities using real-time data to save energy and operate more efficiently.   The system uses data from meters to adjust energy usage and take advantage of time-of-day utility price saving. 

Using real-time price savings, Eglin saved millions of energy dollars in fiscal 2013 and 2014, Hughes said.  The base uses an Air Force-unique energy monitoring system called Business Intelligence for Buildings, or BDOC, to record, analyze and present EMCS data and meter readings.

The playbook is located on the civil engineering portal and currently includes a standard description of EMCS, its objectives and capabilities. Eventually, it will also house assessments of current Air Force EMCS systems and plans for system optimization.